资产减值准则差异比较及政策建议

本文系统、深入地比较了我国计提资产减值准备的规定与第 36号国际会计准则 ,指出了在具体实务中与国际会计准则存在的 6项重大差异 ,并从技术层面、管理惯例和监管机制等角度剖析了产生这些差异的原因 ,最后提出若干政策建议     

The impact of IAS 39 on the risk-relevance of earnings volatility: Evidence from foreign banks cross-listed in the USA

We examine the impact of adopting International Accounting Standard 39 – Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement (IAS 39) by non-US commercial banks cross-listed in the US on earnings volatility and its risk relevance. As IAS 39 requires the recognition of unrealized fair-value gains and losses for a larger set of financial and derivative-financial instruments, and the impairment charges for loans and receivables, we expect and find that IAS 39 adoption increased earnings volatility in IFRS-adopting firms from 2005 onwards. Furthermore, both hedge accounting and the fair value option under IAS 39 are designed to reduce mixed-measurement volatility and to improve the sensitivity of firm risk measures to earnings volatility. We also find that the relationship between credit ratings (proxy for risk) and earnings volatility increases for IFRS-adopting firms after 2005. The evidence is consistent with the argument that IAS 39 increases the credit relevance of earnings volatility.     

论资产弃置会计的国际比较

本文首先说明了资产弃置费用概念,然后分别阐述了不同国家和组织对资产弃置费用处理的会计规定和处理方法,并对其进行了理论性总结,认为它是对传统会计处理方式的一种扩展。作为环境会计的一项重要核算内容,它涉及环境负债、长期资产、折旧与新增费用的组合处理,并采用未来不确定估计方式计量环境负债金额,具有较大的创新。对此,论文还提出了构建我国资产弃置费用会计准则的建议。     

IAS 39: Underlying Principles

There has been much recent debate about the merits of certain aspects of the IASB's recent improvements to IAS 39 Financial Instruments – Recognition and Measurement. Many have sought changes to IAS 39 and lengthy discussions have taken place to determine whether proposed changes are appropriate. These discussions have often focused on the practical effects of the proposed changes – an aspect that is certainly worthy of in-depth consideration. However, the IASB has also focused discussions on whether proposed changes are consistent with the principles underlying the standard. This article seeks to highlight those principles underlying the recognition, measurement and hedge accounting aspects of IAS 39, and their consequences for the resultant accounting requirements as a means to enhance understanding of the reasons why the IASB may find it difficult to accept certain proposed changes.     

The Effect of Reversibility on a Manager's Decision to Record Asset Impairments

Over time, accounting standards have moved toward presenting more items at fair value on the balance sheet. Consistent with this trend, IAS No. 36 permits an impairment loss on a long‐lived asset to be reversed if the economic value of the asset recovers. This article uses empirical data from an experiment conducted with 118 managers to explore the implication of allowing impairment reversals on a manager's decision to record the loss. Results suggest that permitting reversals significantly increases the likelihood that a manager will record the impairment, especially if the manager has a bonus plan. The bonus plan effect is not caused by the manager's intention to smooth income through impairment reversals, but by his disutility from a bonus forgone if the value of the asset recovers but accounting rules prohibit him from reversing the loss.     

Gestaltungsformen der Bilanzierung von Versicherungsverträgen: ein kritischer Vergleich von Deferral / Matching- und Asset / Liability-Ansätzen

On 31 of March 2004 the IASB issued the IFRS 4 (Insurance Contracts), which is a stepping stone to the second phase of its project on insurance contracts. The new standard deals with limited improvements to accounting practices for insurance contracts, without requiring major changes that may need to be revised in phase II. In the second phase of the project a recognition and measurement model is expected to be finalised which differs significantly from the traditional approach to accounting for insurance contracts. It will be an asset / liability-approach that requires an entity to identify and measure directly the rights and obligations arising from insurance contracts. The resulting assets and liabilities should be measured at their fair value. In contrast to the asset / liability-approach, the traditional approach to accounting for insurance contracts, referred to as deferral / mat-ching-approach, emphasises the measurement of income. Both approaches and their corresponding implications on the balance sheet and the profit and loss statement are analysed in detail.     

Do accounting standards matter to financial analysts? An empirical analysis of the effect of cross-listing from different accounting standards regimes on analyst following and forecast error

This paper explores whether the effects of cross-listing on analyst following and forecast error differ among firms with different accounting standards. The results reveal a higher increase in the number of analysts for cross-listed firms that follow their home country's GAAP prior to cross-listing and reconcile or switch to IAS/US GAAP or UK GAAP after cross-listing, compared to those that adopt IAS or US GAAP prior to cross-listing. We find that firms that switch to IAS/US GAAP have a higher increase in analyst following after cross-listing compared to firms that reconcile to IAS/US GAAP. In addition, we find a higher increase in analyst following after cross-listing for firms from low-level accounting standards environments compared to firms from high-level accounting standards environments. Our results show evidence of an increase in the magnitude of analysts’ forecast error after cross-listing for firms that follow their home country's GAAP pre-cross-listing but reconcile post-cross-listing to IAS/US GAAP or UK GAAP. On the other hand, we report a decrease in forecast error for firms that switch to IAS/US GAAP.     

On the global acceptance of IAS/IFRS accounting standards: The logic and implications of the principles-based system

The widespread acceptance of International Accounting Standards (IAS)/International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) makes it timely to examine their technical determinants as well as their implications for the accounting profession and the process of accounting harmonization. In this respect, we suggest that the principles-based approach to the standards and its inner flexibility enables the application of IAS/IFRS to countries with diverse accounting traditions and varying institutional conditions. Furthermore, the principles-based approach involves major changes in the expertise held by accountants and, hence, in their educational background, training programs, and in the organizational and business models of accounting firms. Finally, we submit that the standards set by the IAS/IFRS constitute a step forward in the process of accounting harmonization, although there is still far to go in the comparability of accounting measures across countries and regions.     

Goodwill Accounting in Selected Countries and the Harmonization of International Accounting Standards

Economic and financial markets interpenetrate and national economies are increasingly interdependent. This results in a growing need for comparability of accounting procedures internationally. Accounting for goodwill illustrates this phenomenon. By specifying the recommended asset treatment for purchased, positive goodwill, and the five-year amortization period, IASC has taken a significant step towards harmonization of goodwill accounting. As noted in the article, however, the implications for consolidated income may be quite drastic. This is especially so with respect to the implications of the revised IAS 22 (following IAS ED 32) for potential leveraged corporate buy-outs.     

Why do national GAAP differ from IAS? The role of culture

In this paper, we investigate the role of culture as an explanatory factor underlying differences between national GAAP and International Accounting Standards (IAS). National GAAP can differ from IAS in two ways: (1) divergence: both national GAAP and IAS cover a specific accounting topic but prescribe different methods; or (2) absence: national GAAP do not cover an accounting issue regulated by IAS. Based on Nobes' [Nobes, C. (Ed.) (2001). Gaap 2001—A Survey of National Accounting Rules Benchmarked Against International Accounting Standards. IFAD.] data, we construct a measure for the level of divergence of national GAAP benchmarked on IAS. We also create a measure (labeled absence) to assess the scope of national accounting rules compared to IAS. Our sample is made up of 52 countries. We show that culture matters more than legal origin (common law/civil-law) in explaining divergences from IAS. This result is robust to two proxies for culture: Hofstede [Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. Second, Sage Publications (London).] and Schwartz [Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Beyond individualism/collectivism: New cultural dimensions of values. In U. Kim, H. C. Triandis, C. Kagitcibasi, S. C. Choi, & G. Yoon (Eds.), Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method and applications (85–119). Sage.]. Our findings contribute to the ongoing debate on accounting harmonization. More specifically, they suggest that the technical and/or political dimensions of the debate, although essential, are not the only ones involved. Opposition to IAS is not exclusively driven by contractual motives, a claimed technical superiority, or legal origin, but also by diversity in cultural factors. Another contribution of this paper is the development of a two-dimensional score to measure the differences between national GAAP and IAS.     

Sollen nach International Accounting Standards Abschlußaufwendungen aktiviert und eine Schwankungsrückstellung passiviert werden?

The aim of the International Accounting Standards Committee is to formulate and to publish accounting standards to be observed in the presentation of financial statements and to promote their worldwide acceptance and observance. There is only one International Accounting Standard (IAS) which treats a particular industry (IAS 30 for banks); for insurance companies does not exist a specific IAS. An International Accounting Standards ?Insurance“ is being developed at the moment. The discussion of the Steering Committee for the IAS ?Insurance“ regarding special topics, e.g. acquisition costs or the equalisation provision, was recently published in an ?Issues paper“. The objective of this study is to answer the question if acquisition costs should be deferred and amortized over the policy period and if an equalisation provision is allowed in the system of the IAS. For this purpose acquisition costs must be classified as an asset and an equalisation provision must be classified as a liability. In contrast to the standpoint of the Steering Committee this study shows that acquisition costs meet the requirements of the asset definition in the Framework to the IAS and an equalisation provision meets the requirements of the liability definiton.     

The Recognition of Executory Contracts

This paper examines the nature of executory contracts using as examples forward exchange contracts, asset purchase commitments and leases. FECs are paid particular attention as they have not previously been the focus of discussions concerning executory contracts. The arguments in the literature for recognition of wholly executory contracts can be summarised as follows: recognition provides more relevant information for decision making and is therefore useful; and the contractual rights satisfy the control criterion required by most asset and liability definitions if the contract is firm, thereby evidencing the commitment of the parties. It is argued in this paper that the decision usefulness argument neglects representational faithfulness as it recognises rights that a party does not control; the rights under the contract can be separately identified as rights of alienation and use or conversion; and an approach using deprivai value provides a better indication of commitment than firmness.     

Reducing reporting risk: Designating foreign currency forward contracts as cash flow hedges

We present an example that compares the effects on earnings of designating a foreign currency forward contract as either a cash-flow or fair-value hedge of a foreign currency denominated receivable. Entities engaging in exchange transactions not denominated in their functional currency frequently enter into foreign currency forward contracts in order to mitigate their foreign exchange rate risk exposure. The aggregate effect on earnings of the transaction gain or loss on the foreign currency receivable and the gain or loss on the forward contract is known on the date the forward contract is initiated. The effect on each period’s earnings during the term of a forward contract designated as a cash-flow hedge is also known on the date the contract is initiated; whereas the effect on each periods’ earnings from a fair-value hedge cannot be determined until the respective balance sheet dates. Therefore, designating forward contracts as cash-flow hedges may suppress volatility in reported earnings compared to designating forward contracts as fair-value hedges. In addition, the reporting risk (the amount of uncertainty surrounding the pending measure of an item to be reported in the financial statements) is lower when a forward contract is designated as a cash-flow hedge relative to designating it as a fair-value hedge. This suggests foreign currency forward contracts designated as cash-flow hedges are more consistent with the purpose of hedge accounting: to mitigate the effects on earnings of applying different measurement criteria for the hedge and the hedged item.     

Research Note: Revisiting Fair Value Accounting––Measuring Commercial Banks' Liabilities

IAS 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement (IASB, 2000), requires assets to be marked to fair value if held-for-trading, available-for-sale purposes, or if they are derivatives; held-to-maturity securities, originated loans and originated securities are measured at amortized cost, providing they are not held-for-trading. Financial liabilities are measured at amortized cost except those that are held-for-trading or derivatives. A proposed amendment would accommodate improved fair value measurement of financial instruments. Commercial banks are greatly affected by any accounting standard concerning the recognition and measurement of financial instruments, whether related to assets or liabilities. This article demonstrates that the existing and proposed standards perpetuate the mismeasurement of interest rate risk for commercial banks. Under IAS 39 banks that have a balanced position, that is, no interest rate risk, counterfactually could show large changes in income through interest rate changes. An alternative accounting treatment, full fair value reporting of financial assets and liabilities, including all loans and deposits, is offered. Presently fair value data are mandated as footnote disclosure.     

我国会计准则国际协调效果量化研究述评

近年来,检验我国会计准则国际协调效果的量化研究日益增多,但由于研究的切入点、样本、变量及期间的选择和采用的方法不同,结论存在诸多差异甚至相互矛盾,以致这些研究的理论价值和现实意义有待于深入探讨。本文首次系统地分类探讨我国会计准则国际协调效果的量化研究,从我国会计准则与国际会计准则具体条款的协调程度,以及基于我国会计准则和国际会计准则编制的会计报表数据差异、会计信息含量差异和会计盈余质量差异四个方面,对我国会计准则国际协调效果量化研究的文献进行了回顾,最后对全文进行了总结并对后续研究提出建设性意见。     

On the hedging of options on exploding exchange rates

We study a novel pricing operator for complete, local martingale models. The new pricing operator guarantees put-call parity to hold for model prices and the value of a forward contract to match the buy-and-hold strategy, even if the underlying follows strict local martingale dynamics. More precisely, we discuss a change of numéraire (change of currency) technique when the underlying is only a local martingale, modelling for example an exchange rate. The new pricing operator assigns prices to contingent claims according to the minimal cost for superreplication strategies that succeed with probability one for both currencies as numéraire. Within this context, we interpret the lack of the martingale property of an exchange rate as a reflection of the possibility that the numéraire currency may devalue completely against the asset currency (hyperinflation).     

The use of accounting information for the valuation of dual-class shares listed on China's stock markets

This study examines whether accounting data are useful in helping explain the market value of listed firms in China. In particular, we focus our investigation on companies that have issued dual-class shares sold to domestic investors (A-shares) and foreigners (B-shares). Domestic accounting standards (DAS) are used for the financial statements of A-shares while international accounting standards (IAS) are used for B-shares. Our results show that IAS earnings information is incorporated in the prices and returns of B-shares. In contrast, A-share investors appear to place most weight on DAS earnings and only recently has there been an association with IAS information. Book values are value relevant for B-share prices but not for A-share prices. Sensitivity tests show that accounting information is more likely to be impounded in share prices and returns for firms with high individual (i.e. non-government) share ownership. Based on our results, we argue that China's move towards the adoption of IAS will be useful for A-share investors, especially in light of the country's recent accession to the WTO and the consequent opening-up of the economy.     

Implementation of International Accounting Standards in Poland: Can True Convergence be Achieved in Practice?

The aim of this study is to discuss the difficulties that Poland, as an example of a transition economy, has in complying with the underlying principles of IAS and to recommend changes that need to be introduced before true convergence to IAS can take place. The study identifies existing differences between Polish financial reporting and the IAS in terms of the underlying conceptual framework, using the treatment of fixed assets to demonstrate the fundamental differences between the two systems.

Using in-depth interviews supported with a review of the published financial statements for a sample of listed Polish and UK companies, the study found considerable differences between Polish accounting law and IAS. The article argues that those differences arise predominantly from the Polish legalistic and rule-based orientation that is incompatible with the principle-based spirit of IAS. It will be argued that, in order to achieve greater convergence to IAS, Polish accountants will need to move away from the system of uniform reporting towards broader, principle-based accounting.     

International Accounting Standards and Accounting Quality

We examine whether application of International Accounting Standards (IAS) is associated with higher accounting quality. The application of IAS reflects combined effects of features of the financial reporting system, including standards, their interpretation, enforcement, and litigation. We find that firms applying IAS from 21 countries generally evidence less earnings management, more timely loss recognition, and more value relevance of accounting amounts than do matched sample firms applying non‐U.S. domestic standards. Differences in accounting quality between the two groups of firms in the period before the IAS firms adopt IAS do not account for the postadoption differences. Firms applying IAS generally evidence an improvement in accounting quality between the pre‐ and postadoption periods. Although we cannot be sure our findings are attributable to the change in the financial reporting system rather than to changes in firms' incentives and the economic environment, we include research design features to mitigate effects of both.     

Value relevance of accounting information: Evidence from an emerging market

Without making any distinction of the applicable accounting standards, this paper investigates, firstly, the value relevance of accounting information from 1999 to 2012 in different segments of the Chinese stock market. This investigation includes A-shares, prepared under Chinese Accounting Standards (CAS) for domestic firms; B-shares, prepared under either the International Accounting Standards (IAS) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for both domestic and overseas firms; and H-shares prepared under either the IAS or Hong Kong GAAP for Hong Kong and overseas firms. Then, the paper examines whether or not the converged IFRS with CAS, applicable from 2007 onwards, is more value relevant when compared with prior to the 2007's standards (CAS, IAS, Hong Kong GAAP for A-share, B-share, and H-share markets, respectively). Based on 34,020 firm-year observations and after controlling for industry- and year-fixed effects, the findings suggest that accounting information is value relevant with A- and B-share markets, while it is partially relevant with the H-share market. The paper finds that the converged IFRS with CAS is more value relevant in A-shares and B-shares and it is partially more value relevant with the H-share market. These findings have implications for both policymakers and investors since they provide further empirical evidence for the current policy procedure which harmonizes local GAAP with IFRS.